Prepayment attachment for meters



(No Model.)

O. LUKE. PREPAYMENT ATTACHMENT FOR METERS.

Patented May 17,1898.

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NHED STATES P TENT rrrcn,

CHARLES LUKE, OF MILFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO HENRY G. THOMPSON & SON, i OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

PREPAYMENT ATTACHMENT FORM ETERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 604,255, dated May 17, 1898.

Application filed December 31, 1897- Serial No. 664,820. (No model.)

T0 00% whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES LUKE, of Milford, county of New Haven, State of Connecticut, have invented an Improvement in Prepayment Attachments for Meters, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings,is a specification, like letters and figures on the drawings representing like parts.

In the practical use of prepayment attachments for gas-meters and for vending or supplying other articles after the deposit of a coin in the apparatus much difficulty has been experienced, due to the fact that the possessor of the attachment manages to tamper with the coin used to start the attachment, thus making it possible for the attach-v ment of a gas-meterto deliver more gas than should be delivered from the supply of coin put into the meter.

This invention has for its object to provide means whereby the coin used to start the attachment for the meter or other article to which it is supplied cannot be withdrawn after the same has been put into the attachment, and any coin having become effective to actuate the meter may effect the delivery of only just the proper amount of gas called for by the particular coin.

To this end I have provided the attachment with a coin-feeder having an opening just large enough in diameter to receive the particular coin to be used in the meter, said feeder being also of a thickness just equal to the thickness of said coin and working between plates fitting it closely, so thatsaid coins may be put into the attachment one at a time and so that a bent coin which might clog the operation of the machine cannot be introduced. The coins fed into the attachment are taken one after another automatically from a coin-chamber and made to do their work and then discharged.

Figure 1, in front elevation, shows a prepayment attachment of usual construction provided with my coin-feeder; Fig. 2, a section in the line at, Fig. 1; and Fig. 3, a like section with the feeder pushed, the section showingthe coin in the coin-carrier.

In the drawings, B represents the front plate of a prepayment attachment; B, the

back plate; 13 a dividing-wall separating said plates, and d a rotating coin-carrier supposed to be part of a toothed wheel of usual construction, it having a series of pockets to receive one of a series of coins in succession.

The front plate has connected to it a hollow cap o in which is located a plunger 8 the stem of the plunger being extended out through said cap and provided with a knob e said stem being surrounded by a suitable spring a, which acts normally to move the said plunger toward the said wheel.

The back plate B has a portion within which is received the shank of a locking device b said locking device acted upon by a spring entering and being free to work in a slot made in the dividing-wall, said locking device being shown as standing within a pocket of the coin-carrier in Fig. 2, the place it will occupy when coin is absentfrom said coin-carrier,

may be applied in a pile any desired number of coins, the plunger acting upon one side of the coin or pile of coins to keep it or them pressed toward the coin-carrier, so that one after another of said coins may enter the pockets of the coin-carrier as the latter in its movements comes opposite the said chamberc Cooperating with the devices so far described there has usually been employed a coin-feeder of a thickness equal to substan- 9o tially the thickness of the coin used, and with such a feeder it is possible to put a coin into the hole in the feeder, which was made to slide back and forth in a suitable groove in the face-plate under the said plunger, and 5 connect a wire with the coin, letting the plunger act on the coin, pushing it into the coin-carrier far enough to push back the looking device to start the carrier, and then to pull out the plunger by hand and withdraw This locking device is used 75 l v f the coin, pulling on the wire. To obviate this action, I have provided the groove in the front plate with a stationary table or coin-rest 30, it having at its inner end a hole (see Fig. 2,) opposite the chamber 0 the opposite end of said rest being extended for a considerable distance beyond the cap 6 a suitable pin, as 31, retaining the said table stationary. I have also added to the cap 6 an extension or guard 32, it overlapping the table for some distance from the foot of said cap and from the opening 30 in said rest and the chamber c This cap 6 is held in place by suitable screws, as 55, Fig. 1, and between this cap and its extension or guard 32 on one side and the face of said rest I have applied a coinfeeder 33, which is of a thickness only equal to the thickness of the coin to be used, and said coin-feeder has a through-and-through hole or opening 34 of a diameter equal to the diameter of the coin to be used. This coinfeeder has at one end a finger-piece 35 and at its opposite end a projecting shoulder or stoppiece 36, and said feeder is free to slide from the position shown in Fig. 1, where the opening 34 is located properly to receive the coin to be used, to the left, viewing Fig. 1, far enough to put the coin in said openingimmediately in line with the plunger, so that said plunger may act on said coin and push it through the opening 30 of the rest into the chamber 0 By employing a coin-feeder of a thickness just equal to the thickness of the coin to be used and by making the space between the face of the rest and the inner end of the cap also just equal to the thickness of the coinfeederabent coin cannot be put into the opening and be passed into the position opposite the plunger to be acted on by the plunger and transferred by it either into the chamber or directly into the pocket of the coin-carrier, as shown in Fig. 3. So, also, it will be understood, by putting one coin at a time into the apparatus, that when said coin has been acted upon by the plunger and started from the opening of the feeder the feeder cannot be Withdrawn and with it the coin.

The coin put into the opening bears against the rest and is slid over the same as the feeder is pushed into position, and,further, by reason of making the feeder of just the thickness of the coin to be used and causing it to slide with a closer fit between the table on the one side and the guard and cap on the other side, it is not possible to attach a string or a wire to a coin, put it in the feeder, and let the coin be used to start the coin-carrier; nor is it possible for one to introduce a wire and push back the locking device to start the coin-carrier and let the gas be delivered.

The thickness of the feeder will always be just equal to the thickness of the coin to be used, and by making the table detachable it may be changed and another of a different thickness substituted for it.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, -is

In a prepayment attachment, a front plate having a coin-chamber, a coin-carrier, a detachable table fitted to said front plate, a cap fixed to said front plate, and a coin-feeder having a through-and-through opening and fitted to slide snugly between said table and said cap, and means to remove a coin from said feeder into said coin-carrier, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subseribin g witnesses.

CHARLES LUKE.

Witnesses:

HENRY G. THOMPSON, GEORGE T. BRISTOL. 

